Wednesday, 20 June 2018

(1) To Professor Hirotugu Akaike at his departure from Manchester UK on 8th August 1978.

話別赤池弘次教授

統計悠悠三十載
弘公卓卓更無前
先朝二說今為一

辯證功勞爾獨先

(2) In memory of Dr. Joseph Lucas, a most talented gentleman, knowledgeable in medicine, history, languages, music and so on. Poem composed on my way back from his funeral on 25th August, 1978 in the village of Jordan, north of London.

悼勞嘉仕醫師

勞嘉仕爾今何去
舊樹前頭俠骨埋
夢裡華佗金手在
琴絲月下有人諧

(3) After meeting a group of students from Mainland China (孫玉璽,臧國華 and others) in London on New Year’s Eve of 1978.

贈中國留學生

十年面壁乘風志
又恐橫行四害猖
獨有攻堅勤鍛煉
更無喪氣懶書章
雄雞一唱環中國
彩鳳重歌遍故鄉
我輩天生今有用
登高奏凱拓新疆

(4) To Dad, on the occasion of his recovering from an ailment (Poynton, UK, 1979)

Hua’s reply
Belated meeting,
Hasty departing!
When shall I see you again?
For a drink?
No,
Your talent is my gain!
In your prime,
Bright future in no time!
All the best,
My dear friend.
Together,
For China, let’s do our best!
(English translation by me.)

(8) Untitled: on my flight from Shanghai to Guangzhou on 25th November 1981

(14) Further on receiving the 2007 Guy medal in Silver from the Royal Statistical Society (Canterbury, 5th May 2011)

銀章有感(二)

不慍不知情
從來有白丁
銀章歸我族
門檻出金經

Ignorance I need not resent,
For simpletons are forever present.
Silver came to our fold,
And o’er the threshold all is gold.
(English ranslation by me.)

(15) Untitled (Canterbury, 16th July 2011)

無題

苗條照日撩人目
踏白通中水影蓮
邂逅寒生癡且魯
瀛洲待放伴華仙

Slender was a figure reflecting the sun,
so dazzling,
And into sight,
Emerging
With feet clad in white and body upright
Like a budding lotus reflected in water!
Chance would take him to a far-off island,
Clumsy and wanting;
Yet, on this land,
He waited for the flowery maiden,
So enchanting!

(16) To Professor Hongzhi An (安鴻志) on reading his new book on the Dream of the Red Chamber (Canterbury, 12th March 2012)

贈安鴻志教授

紅樓夢裏扣心思
字字玄機有誰知
燕雀焉知鴻鵠志
安兄獨歩破關時
（注：「誰」讀作「水」）

(17) After the lunch meeting with Professor Peter Whittle at Anchor Public House, Cambridge, 2012

與華彼得敎授中午聚餐後有感而作

遠道輕輜求道渴
香江紐國闖西疆
橋邊囘首雙同路
序列釘裝獨異鄉
邃密時空窮變幻
段分線性乃尋常
文章得失何需患
不待花開不逞強

(Note: Peter and I are both professional time series analysts and amateur book-binders.)

(18) On my 70th birthday (Canterbury, UK)

七十自詠

七十人間處處聞
難逢白髮敢凌雲
素菲造美天公意
散髮扁舟笑古人

English translation:
Septuagenarians are here, And there, And everywhere on earth, But rarity Is the silvery grey That to the blue sky Cries,`Hey! I’m not bending, And I’m not yielding, For, elegant simplicity Is created in heaven, To last from here to eternity.’

(19) In memory of two English ladies who passed away in Chilham/Old Wives Lees in October, 2015
悼二友人 半夜夢醒思念兩位剛逝世的同村英國老年婦女有感而作 二〇一五年十月廿八日於Palo Alto, California, USA

(23) An eulogy to Eileen’s husband
(On behalf of Mary’s auntie, Eileen, who lost her husband in 2016 after 55 years of happy marriage; the verse isto be carved on her husband’s grave.)

代美莉Eileen姑姐草擬祭其亡夫詩一首,遵從其意詩中包括＂樂、真、愛、聖、惠＂五個字。詩成于2017年1月草坪老廬

六十年前君不識
因緣圩五理連枝
翱翔比翼傳真愛
聖惠明朝樂未遲

English translation by Y.K.Kwan:
In the beginning, you were unknown to me.
Then for fifty-five years, we lived like an entwined tree.
With love, we soared to the sky, wing to wing.
In Heaven, tomorrow, we shall sing!

(24) A couplet to her husband on behalf of Mary’s auntie, Eileen, who lost her husband in 2016 after 55 years of happy marriage.
代美莉Eileen姑姐草擬祭其亡夫對聯一副

五十五年真愛勝似連理枝
千秋萬世聖惠樂如比翼鳥

(25) In celebration of the Golden Jubilee of the Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science of the University of Hong Kong.

賀香港大學統計與精算學系金禧之喜
2017年2月于草坪老廬

五十年前統計初
知天命者不知多
香江那怕艱辛路
播種環球奏凱歌

(26) To darling daughter, Anna Sea-Lin, on the occasion of her wedding celebration held at Domaine Fon de Rey, Pomerols, France on 5th August 2017.

值愛女思蓮於法國南部婚禮即席演講前有感而作

三十年前一笑娃
中通外直賽蓮花
今朝網捕郎君後
喜接新婚入我家

An English translation:
Thirty odd years ago
A smiling baby,
Now an upright and
Broad-minded lady!
Today, she’s caught a gent
On the net,
And brought him to our tent,
Happily newly wed.

Monday, 2 May 2011

It is indeed a great honour and a privilege to be awarded the 2007 Guy medal in Silver, which I accept with humility, especially when I recall some of the household names on the list of past recipients. As a time series analyst, I am most encouraged by our august society in giving the subject such a high recognition.

I think I am a most lucky man because I have benefited greatly from two cultures; here I am not only thinking of the Chinese culture and the English culture, but also Statistics on the one hand and Deterministic Dynamical Systems on the other. In many ways, my paper on threshold auto-regressive models, to which our President referred a few minutes ago, can be regarded as a multi-cultural product.

My lucky journey started almost exactly 46 years ago when my late father sent me to join him here in London from that little island called Hong Kong in July 1961. Two years later, he used the bulk of his life savings as a waiter to send me to UMIST as it was then called. I only wish that he could be here to witness tonight’s happy event and to hear me say publicly, “Thanks, Dad!”

The second lucky event took place in 1970 when I was offered my first proper academic post by UMIST shortly after I started my doctoral programme. I would therefore like to thank UMIST and my former colleagues there for giving me this opportunity. As you know, my threshold paper was published when I was there.

I would also like to thank all my collaborators for their willingness to put up with me. The list is very long indeed. Please allow me to mention specially Kung-sik Chan, Nils Christian Stenseth, Qiwei Yao and Wenyang Zhang.

Last but not least, I would like to thank my wife for reminding me that honour might be good but work of lasting value is better.